President Trump’s travels to his private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., give the chief executive a chance to unwind, hang out with friends and play golf. But that presidential rest and recreation comes with a cost.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office says four such trips early on in Trump’s presidency cost taxpayers $13.6 million, or some $3.4 million each. That is far higher than the estimates of Trump’s travel costs early in his presidency, which were pegged at about $1 million per trip.
The congressional watchdog’s report is the first official accounting of Trump’s travel costs. The report also found that the Secret Service spent nearly $400,000 protecting Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric on trips they took in January and February 2017. The costs of Trump’s visits to Florida were calculated based on trips in February and March of that year.
View the complete February 5 article by Brian Naylor on the NPR website here.